Consistently eight out of 10 U.S. adults describe themselves as “extremely healthy” or “very healthy,” but only one-in-five adults have what is considered to be a “most healthy” diet and 65% of adults’ body mass index (BMI) is overweight or obese, according to The NPD Group, a market research company based in Chicago, IL. In spite of their overly positive assessment of their own health, almost half of all U.S. adults (104 million) recognize the need to change their diet in order to improve the overall healthfulness of their lives, a recently released NPD food and beverage market study finds.

U.S. adults define healthy eating in terms of adding to or taking something out of their diets differently, according to NPD’s “Market for Functional Foods” report. Fifty-five percent of the 1921 adults NPD surveyed said that eating healthy is equally adding to and taking out of their diet. Of the remaining adults surveyed, 26% said that “adding something to the diet” is healthy eating, and 19% said that “taking something out” of the diet is.

Dieting, which is traditionally more about taking something out of the diet, is not the health or weight management solution it once was for U.S. adults, NPD reports. In the year ending December 2011, 21% of adults claimed to be on a diet down from the 24% who claimed to be on a diet in 2004. As for adding something to a diet, U.S. adults and kids turn to an easier solution like taking vitamins, according to report findings. Vitamin supplement usage is on the rise among both kids and adults. Another way in which U.S. consumers are adding something to their diets is with functional foods and beverages, which are products that offer additional, pro-active health benefits beyond basic nutrition, like fortified with whole grains or probiotics. One-third of adults, almost 80 million, indicate strong interest in functional foods and beverages, and one-in-four adults are already using a functional food or beverage at least once a day.

“A huge opportunity exists to increase functional product usage among adults, and teens, who have already tried functional products at some point but are not using them on a daily basis,” said Darren Seifer, NPD food and beverage industry analyst. “If the 118 million less frequent adult users could be encouraged to include just one more functional food or beverage into their diet each week, this would result in an increase of over 6 billion eatings each year.”

Related Industry News

Holistic Primary Care, a practitioner-focused natural medicine publication, is anticipating its upcoming Practitioner Channel Forum to be held April 22-24, 2015 at the Coronado Island Marriott Resort. The conference will feature data f…

Silliker, Inc., Chicago, IL, the international network of ISO 17025 accredited food testing and consulting laboratories, is rebranding to Mérieux NutriSciences as part of a global brand transition that will be completed in 2015. Mérieux…

The Australia-based Soho Flordis International (SFI) is the recipient of the American Botanical Council (ABC) annual Varro E. Tyler Commercial Investment in Phytomedicinal Research Award. SFI is a global natural medicine company c…

A nationally representative survey showed that natural product use in the U.S. has shifted since 2007, with some products becoming more popular and some falling out of favor. Overall, natural products (dietary supplements other than vitamins and mine…

The American Botanical Council (ABC), Austin, TX, will present the 2014 James A. Duke Excellence in Botanical Literature Award to Nancy J. Turner, PhD at the 10th Annual ABC Botanical Celebration and Awards Ceremony. The event will take place on…

Mountain High Acquisitions Corp., Denver, CO, has completed the acquisition of GreenLife BotaniX, Inc., a California-based developer and marketer of CBD hemp oil infused nutraceutical products. As a result of the acquisition, GreenLife has becom…

Nearly 17% of the U.S. population who take “immune health” dietary supplements have heard of the yeast fermentate ingredient EpiCor, according to a survey by Embria Health Sciences, Ankeny, IA, the makers of EpiCor and other proprietary f…

Research presented at the 12th Annual Scripps Natural Supplements Conference showed that an anti-hangover drink on the market may come to the rescue of hangover sufferers. A clinical study by independent contract research organization Medicus Researc…

BASF is increased its production capacities for vitamin A by 25% by expanding an existing plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany, which is part of BASF’s Citral Verbund. With this capacity extension, BASF reacted to the rising demand for its vitamin A…

Vitafoods Europe will once again return to Palexpo, Geneva from the 5-7 May 2015, with visitors descending on the exhibition to source new suppliers and take advantage of the educational and business opportunities at the event.
Over 14,000 v…

As part of the existing partnership DSM is collaborating with the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) on new research to determine how nutrient status is connected to phenotypes. The project will then map nutritional status against health outc…

In 2013, the global market for functional waters grew by 10% in volume to 4.8 billion liters and by 8.5% in value to $6.5 billion, according to a report from food and drinks industry consultancy Zenith International.
The report identified eight ke…

A large number of U.S. adults use and are confident in the benefits of dietary supplements, according to the 2014 Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) Consumer Survey. The survey showed that 68% of U.S. adults reported taking dietary supplements;…